Joy in the Journey column published by Graphic Publications and appearing in The Bargain Hunter and Wooster Weekly News
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Joy in the Journey - That Same Old Feeling
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Joy in the Journey - That Same Old Feeling
I have that same old feeling today, that feeling of butterflies in my belly and sadness in my heart. It’s Monday, and top that off with it being the Monday after Christmas break. The kiddos all headed back to school today, and I am down in the dumps.
What is it about Mondays that are so depressing?
This Monday morning feeling reminds me of other times in my life when the butterflies hit my belly and sadness seeps into my heart.
When I was a freshman in college, my dorm room was way on top of a hill. The autumn leaves were all changing colors, the breezes were cooling, and I was all butterflies and heartache. I walked around the beautiful Allegheny College campus wondering where my life was going and if I would ever feel at home somewhere in my life.
I wasn’t there yet.
When I transferred to Baldwin-Wallace College and moved back home, I got a do-over. I got to start fresh at a new university, and try to find my way.
The funny thing was that even though B-W was closer to my home, I still felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, traveling down a yellow brick road with no idea of my destination.
I wasn’t home yet.
I got married and became a mom, and suddenly, it was my job to make a house where my family would feel at home.
Sunday nights are a bummer, so to spruce them up, we started a family tradition of eating homemade pizza and watching a movie. It gives us something to look forward to and eases the Sunday night blues.
Wintertime is depressing since I can’t get outdoors as much as I like. So we are planning a mini-vacation at a waterpark with the kids to beat those mid-winter blues. (Though a weekend at an indoor waterpark also involves me in a swimsuit which is a depression all unto itself. But let’s not linger on the negatives.)
When we moved to the farm, I felt really out of place.
Nothing like a city girl living on a beef cattle farm to make a girl homesick. And I will be the first person to admit that it has not been and easy journey, but I have grown to love farm life. I even enjoy seeing the cattle from our family room window and playing freeze tag in the summertime on the hay bales.
So I guess I found a home in a place I never expected to live because I was the one who had to make a house feel like a home.
And I have learned that feeling at home is not about where I am, but who I am. It comes from the inside out. And I can find that at-home feeling if I try.
Life does not happen in a photograph. It’s a motion picture, and so, like it or not, I have to keep moving. There is no pause button; at least I have not found one yet.
And Mondays come, like it or not. Christmas break ends, and life goes on, with or without that same old feeling bringing me down.
So today, I think I might bake some chocolate chip cookies for an after school treat. That should shake the butterflies in my belly and make my children happy.
Though it won’t help me with the swimsuit situation.
Guess you can’t have it all.
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Catch up with Trish at http://www.trishberg.com/, follow her on Twitter or friend her on Facebook get your copy of all 3 of her books at Amazon.com.
What is it about Mondays that are so depressing?
This Monday morning feeling reminds me of other times in my life when the butterflies hit my belly and sadness seeps into my heart.
When I was a freshman in college, my dorm room was way on top of a hill. The autumn leaves were all changing colors, the breezes were cooling, and I was all butterflies and heartache. I walked around the beautiful Allegheny College campus wondering where my life was going and if I would ever feel at home somewhere in my life.
I wasn’t there yet.
When I transferred to Baldwin-Wallace College and moved back home, I got a do-over. I got to start fresh at a new university, and try to find my way.
The funny thing was that even though B-W was closer to my home, I still felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, traveling down a yellow brick road with no idea of my destination.
I wasn’t home yet.
I got married and became a mom, and suddenly, it was my job to make a house where my family would feel at home.
Sunday nights are a bummer, so to spruce them up, we started a family tradition of eating homemade pizza and watching a movie. It gives us something to look forward to and eases the Sunday night blues.
Wintertime is depressing since I can’t get outdoors as much as I like. So we are planning a mini-vacation at a waterpark with the kids to beat those mid-winter blues. (Though a weekend at an indoor waterpark also involves me in a swimsuit which is a depression all unto itself. But let’s not linger on the negatives.)
When we moved to the farm, I felt really out of place.
Nothing like a city girl living on a beef cattle farm to make a girl homesick. And I will be the first person to admit that it has not been and easy journey, but I have grown to love farm life. I even enjoy seeing the cattle from our family room window and playing freeze tag in the summertime on the hay bales.
So I guess I found a home in a place I never expected to live because I was the one who had to make a house feel like a home.
And I have learned that feeling at home is not about where I am, but who I am. It comes from the inside out. And I can find that at-home feeling if I try.
Life does not happen in a photograph. It’s a motion picture, and so, like it or not, I have to keep moving. There is no pause button; at least I have not found one yet.
And Mondays come, like it or not. Christmas break ends, and life goes on, with or without that same old feeling bringing me down.
So today, I think I might bake some chocolate chip cookies for an after school treat. That should shake the butterflies in my belly and make my children happy.
Though it won’t help me with the swimsuit situation.
Guess you can’t have it all.
***************************************************************
Catch up with Trish at http://www.trishberg.com/, follow her on Twitter or friend her on Facebook get your copy of all 3 of her books at Amazon.com.
Posted by Trish Berg 10:19 AM
Labels: Graphic Publications Column, Joy in the Journey Column, The Bargain Hunter, Wooster Weekly News
